Zhai Fuhua, Brooks-Gunn Jeanne, Waldfogel Jane
Graduate School of Social Service, Fordham University.
Teachers College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.
Dev Psychol. 2014 Dec;50(12):2572-86. doi: 10.1037/a0038205. Epub 2014 Oct 20.
Using data (n = 3,790 with 2,119 in the 3-year-old cohort and 1,671 in the 4-year-old cohort) from 353 Head Start centers in the Head Start Impact Study, the only large-scale randomized experiment in Head Start history, this article examined the impact of Head Start on children's cognitive and parent-reported social-behavioral outcomes through first grade contingent on the child care arrangements used by children who were randomly assigned to the control group (i.e., parental care, relative/non-relative care, another Head Start program, or other center-based care). A principal score matching approach was adopted to identify children assigned to Head Start who were similar to children in the control group with a specific care arrangement. Overall, the results showed that the effects of Head Start varied substantially contingent on the alternative child care arrangements. Compared with children in parental care and relative/non-relative care, Head Start participants generally had better cognitive and parent-reported behavioral development, with some benefits of Head Start persisting through first grade; in contrast, few differences were found between Head Start and other center-based care. The results have implications regarding the children for whom Head Start is most beneficial as well as how well Head Start compares with other center-based programs.
利用“启智计划影响研究”中353个启智中心的数据（n = 3790，其中3岁队列有2119人，4岁队列有1671人），这是启智计划历史上唯一的大规模随机试验，本文考察了启智计划对儿童认知以及家长报告的社会行为结果的影响，直至一年级，这取决于被随机分配到对照组的儿童所采用的托儿安排（即父母照料、亲属/非亲属照料、另一个启智计划项目或其他基于中心的照料）。采用主成分得分匹配方法来确定被分配到启智计划项目中的儿童，这些儿童与对照组中采用特定照料安排的儿童相似。总体而言，结果表明，启智计划的效果因替代托儿安排的不同而有很大差异。与接受父母照料和亲属/非亲属照料的儿童相比，参加启智计划的儿童通常在认知和家长报告的行为发展方面表现更好，启智计划的一些益处持续到一年级；相比之下，启智计划与其他基于中心的照料之间几乎没有差异。这些结果对于启智计划对哪些儿童最有益以及启智计划与其他基于中心的项目相比效果如何具有启示意义。
